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With the United States and many other nations addicted to oil and dependent on less-than-friendly suppliers, the timing is right for Asheville to encourage the establishment of an infrastructure for a promising alternative: electric cars.
While we prefer private-sector initiatives over government spending, the $500,000 federal stimulus grant the city received for installing 25 charging stations in the Asheville metropolitan area over the next year might just be a rare example of such spending being put to good use.
As New England transcentalist Henry David Thoreau might say, “and in the very nick of time, too.”
Citizens’ groups are seeking additional grants to finance the building of even more stations.
To its credit, the city has simplified the permitting process for installing charging stations at residences.
To our good fortune, Cleveland-based Eaton Corp. is manufacturing electrical charging stations in Arden.
Action has been spurred by utility companies and car dealers who
say that Asheville, as a prosperous, environmentally conscious and
forward-thinking community, is one of the North Carolina cities that
could become an electric car “hot spot,” when the vehicles arrive in the
area in mid- to late 2011.
The debate continues over whether electric cars will enable the
U.S. to become energy-independent, but the effort to wean Asheville and
the nation from the internal combustion engine and oil — a polluting
commodity that is fast-dwindling worldwide — merits praise.
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